Muhammad and the Rebuilding of the Kaaba

The
modesty of the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him,
was the most prominent trait of his personality. Even from an early age, his sense
of shame in an open society of the Arabs prior to Islam was remarkable. In one
instance, after the treasures had been stolen from inside, the people were
rebuilding the the Kaaba with a roof in order to prevent thieves from entering
it again. Muhammad, while, still a young man, took part. He went with his
uncle, al-Abbas, to carry blocks of stone. His uncle told him to put his sarong[1]
around his neck to protect himself from the sharp edges of the heavy rocks.

As he moved to comply with this sensible advice, he was
overcome with dizziness, and he collapsed in a dead faint. His eyes gazed
fixedly skywards as he lay on his back on the ground, his sarong loosened but
still covering his privates. A few moments later, he came round, yelling, ‚ÄúMy clothing
- my clothing!‚ÄĚ

Hastily, he wrapped his sarong securely around himself
again. Never again in his life would anyone outside the family ever even catch
a glimpse of his loins.

The story above was told by one of the Prophet‚Äôs
companions, Jabir bin Abdullah, and shows Mohammad‚Äôs strong sense of shame and propriety
about his body was ingrained, even before prophethood. He was known to be more modest than a
cloistered virgin both before and after receiving revelation from
God.

Moses and the Mockers

Another story about Moses, may the mercy and blessings
of God be upon him, demonstrates that he was as equally bashful and shy about
his own body as young Muhammad. He never appeared in front of anyone without
fully covering himself, which led some of his people (the Children of Israel)
to disparage him hurtfully. They said, ‚ÄúHe covers his body in this way only
because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has
some other defect.‚ÄĚ

God wished to clear Moses of what they said about him. One
day, when Moses had taken off his clothes and put them on a stone while in
seclusion, he started taking a bath. When he had finished the bath, he moved
towards his clothes in order to take them and put them on again, but the stone took
off with his clothes and fled. Despite his nakedness, Moses picked up his
stick and ran after the stone saying, ‚ÄúO stone! Give me my clothes!‚ÄĚ

But the stone continued to flee until it reached a group
of Israelites, where it stopped. That is how they were able to see him naked, finding
in his form the best of what God had created.

Thus God cleared him of what they had accused him of. Moses,
however, was rather upset. He took his clothes and hastily put them on, and
then started hitting the stone with his stick. The Prophet of Islam, the one
who narrated the story, swore that the stone still had some traces of the hitting,
even today; three, four or five marks. That was what God refers to in His
Saying:

‚ÄúO you who believe! Be not like those who annoyed Moses, but God
proved his innocence about that which they alleged. And he was honorable in God‚Äôs
Sight.‚ÄĚ (Quran 33:69)

This story shows how shy Moses was about letting his
body be seen in public. In fact, only his anger at being deprived of the
barrier between his body and the world led him to allow the whole of his body
to be seen, the exposure of which was by God‚Äôs Will in order to clear him of
the slander applied by his detractors. Of course, he could not hold that exposure
against God, so he took it out on the rock ‚Äď the means by which his exposure
was engineered, and hence his innocence was established from what his
slanderers alleged.

Muhammad and the Garden Well

What is respectable to view between people of course
varies. How much of a woman‚Äôs body can be exposed to a husband is different
from what she can expose to her brother, which in turn differs from what can be
seen by a complete stranger, and vice-versa. This is true concerning what is
permissible to see between people of the same sex, too. What a father, brother
or son can respectably view of each other is different from what a man outside
the family circle is permitted to see, as what a mother, daughter or sister can
of each other in contrast to a strange woman.

Once, when the Prophet went into a garden, he asked his
companion, Abu Musa al-Asharee, to guard its gate. In the garden was a well,
and he sat upon its wall dangling his legs inside it. After a while, Abu Bakr
came by, wanting to enter the garden. Abu Musa went to tell the Prophet that
his father-in-law wanted to share the garden with him, so the Prophet said, ‚ÄúTell
him the good news that the gardens of Paradise await him, and let him in.‚ÄĚ

So Abu Bakr, Aisha‚Äôs father, went into the garden and
sat beside the prophet, whose sarong was pulled up to just above his knees, and
dangled his legs in the well with him. A little later, Umar al-Khattab turned
up. He wanted to relax in the garden, too. Again Abu Musa sought the Prophet‚Äôs
permission for him, informing him of another of his father-in-law‚Äôs presence at
the gate. He said, ‚ÄúTell him the good news that the gardens of Paradise await him, and let him in.‚ÄĚ

Umar, Hafsa‚Äôs father, took the free place beside the Prophet,
and dangled his legs in the water next to him.

Both of these men had had the sensitivity to sit next to
the prophet, and thus the prophet was able to preserve propriety without having
to pull his lower garment over his knees.

Some time after that, his son-in-law, Uthman al-Affan,
whom his daughter Ruqayyah had married, also sought entrance to the garden. When
Abu Musa transmitted the Prophet‚Äôs message by saying, ‚ÄėThe gardens of Paradise
await you after some trials,‚Äô and let him in, Uthman observed that the only
free spaces on the wall were on one of the three walls that the Prophet and his
fathers-in-law were not occupying, which meant he might see more of the Prophet‚Äôs
legs than they. As he hesitated, the Prophet pulled his sarong down over his
knees, so Uthman took the place opposite him.[2]

Islam teaches that there are some parts of the body that
should not be revealed in public, and the closer these parts are to one‚Äôs
privates, the more they are prohibited to reveal. Although all three men who
sat with him had close family ties with him, which is why he let his knees be
seen, when the Prophet‚Äôs thighs were threatened by exposure, he took steps to
hide them.

Footnotes:

[1]
A cotton cloth wrapped around the waist, covering lower body to the
calves/shins. Worn by men in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand these days, and used by Arab men before (but called izar).

[2] One lesson
interpreted from this story was that it constituted a sign that his fathers-in-law
would be buried next him when they died, but his son-in-law would be buried
somewhat removed, as indeed actually happened. (Fath-al-Bari)